


The Creature in the Cage

by bluetoast



Series: Last Prince of Jotunheim [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Loki Needs a Hug, Poor Loki, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-17
Updated: 2014-06-17
Packaged: 2018-02-04 23:56:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1797994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluetoast/pseuds/bluetoast
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Taken from a prompt at <a href="http://norsekink.livejournal.com">Norsekink</a>. Loki was never found by Odin. Instead, Laufey tossed him out to die on Midgard. Instead of dying, he has been held captive by countless owners, performing ice magic and suffering abuse. When Tony Stark reads about  'Shakuru the Ice Monster' he assumes it's a hoax. He's rather surprised when he's face to face with the creature known as Shakuru - he's most definitely the real deal. And Tony knows he can't leave him a prisoner of his abusive 'owners' - when he gets back to Stark Tower, Steve Rogers doesn't know what to think.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Creature in the Cage

It had been several decades since he had come to New York City. The Blue Man had no name, no real name at least, he was currently called Ru, short for Shakuru – a name given to him by the owner of the Madlestar Circus – his owner. Ru didn't know how old he was.. Centuries, at least. Perhaps a millennium, but he couldn't be certain. He rested his hands against the cool railing of the ship, relishing the fresh air he was granted once a day; all too soon he would be returned below decks, hidden away from the inspectors who came aboard to examine the circus's animals and make sure they weren't carrying any diseases. 

The skyline had changed a great deal – the last time he had been here, two identical towers had been nearing completion – and some idiot had tied a wire between them and walked it. Insanity. Now, those towers were gone and a single, much taller tower stood in their place. He could remember when the skyline was nothing but brick and stone, just starting to reach into the sky – and now, now the sky seemed lost at times. It wasn't as bad as Los Angeles, where the city always seemed to be yellow and it hurt to breathe. Not to mention it was hot. Ru despised the heat.

The green woman with the torch was still on her island, keeping watch. Ru loved her for some reason – maybe it was the fact that her skin was green, maybe it was the fact that she had the blank expression that was neither cruel or condescending. She just was. Lady Liberty. Ru didn't know what liberty was; or freedom. He knew the words and the meanings, of course – but had never known it for himself. 

A streak of light suddenly rose from the water, several yards away and Ru stepped back, alarmed. As he watched, the streak moved and then turned towards the city. Was that the famed Iron Man he'd heard about? There was talk about how he brought an end to many terrorists and criminals. He had to wonder, did the Iron Man think about ending slavery? 

“Come on, Ru, back down you go.” One of the guards set a hand on his arm. “Can't see much in the dark anyway.” 

He shuffled next to his handler, remaining silent. It was always best to keep silent. Down six flights of stairs and then into a small dark room. Just as he had, thousands of times before, he stepped into his cage, ducking down to not catch his horns on the top and then crouching down to curl up on the pile of blankets that was his bed. He blinked a few times, watching the handler. He rested his hands on his knees, wincing when his stomach rumbled. “Sorry.”

“Yeah.” The handler snorted, picking up a paper bag that Ru hadn't noticed and set it inside the cage before closing the door. “Now you keep silent when we put into port. Just go to sleep and we won't have any problems. Understand?”

Ru nodded, resisting the urge to snatch the bag, but he knew to wait. 

“Good. See you tomorrow morning, Ru.” There was something in the man's gaze; almost as if he was sorry about having to leave him. But Shakuru knew better. No one felt sorry for him; not in a great many years. Perhaps that scrawny boy called Henry; when he'd been young. Henry had grown into a hateful person. But most people; they just screamed or laughed at him. 

When the door of the room was shut, leaving Ru in the darkness, he pulled the bag to him and opened it, examining the contents. Two bottles of water, two sandwiches, two green apples, and a bag of carrots. He took out one of the sandwiches and pulled off the first piece of bread. Leaning back against the bars, he began to eat the food the way he always did – layer by layer. It made it last longer. By the time he had eaten the bread, the slice of white cheese, the lettuce, the tomato, the thick slice of ham and the bottom slice of bread, all Ru wanted to do was sleep. 

He covered himself with one of the blankets, doing his best to look like nothing more than a pile of sacks, he closed his eyes, willing himself to sleep. An old memory stirred; people used to throw tomatoes at him, they thought it was poisonous. Ru had taken delight in picking up the heavy red fruit and eating it in front of them, the juice dripping down his chin. It had always taken the sting out of hateful words. Who had owned him then? His name was lost – along with a lot of others. 

The sound of the ship's horn echoed down to Ru and he sighed. There was talk of selling him again; the world was changing; he didn't want to think about where he'd end up, he was always disappointed. He just hoped it wasn't back to one of the countries without winter. He hated endless summer.

It reminded him too much of fire.

*  
“This can't be real.” Tony Stark gave a condescending look at the advertisement in the paper. “It's got to be a man in a suit – or he underwent some shady surgical procedure in Eastern Europe.” He took a drink of coffee. “Jarvis?” He frowned.

“Yes, sir?” The AI replied, crisply.

“You have any information on Shakuru, Ice Monster?” His voice full of skepticism. 

“Records indicate that he has been a part of the Madlestar Circus since nineteen sixty-four. Prior to that, he was known simply as the Blue Freak of the Caddelblack Show of Wonders, where he was an attraction from nineteen-fifteen to sixty three. He was traded for six tigers from King Sunda of Persia.” Jarvis continued. “Information suggests that he was passed among the Arabian nobility for several centuries. Records only go back as far as seventeen fifteen, when he was seen by a man named Anthony Martin, a British Naval Commander who was given an invitation to dinner with the King of Egypt.”

“It can't be the same guy.” Tony pulled a tablet towards him. “You have pictures?”

“Yes, sir.” He replied.

A moment later, a dozen pictures appeared on the tablet, some in full color, others in black and white of a very skinny being with horns growing out of his head. Well, appearing to at least. There was only one where the blue man appeared to be aware of the camera. A slender hand held onto a bar, looking directly at the person taking the picture. His hair was black, strange looking scars were across his face and his eyes were almost entirely red. “Something about this doesn't seem right.” 

“Indeed, sir.” Came Jarvis's curt reply. “Shall I purchase a ticket for you to attend tonight's performance?”

“Yes.” A feeling had started in the pit of Tony's stomach. It was similar to the one he had when he woke up attached to that car battery. 

“Will you be attending alone? Captain Rodgers has returned from Washington.” Tony could swear his computer was trying not to laugh. “Before you ask, Miss Potts is still in Paris.” 

“I'll be going by myself.” Tony drained the last of his coffee. “Whatever this Shakuru is, it has to be some sort of hoax. Like that goat the Ringling Brothers tried to pass off as a unicorn.”

“You were quite disappointed, as I recall sir.” Now Tony knew Jarvis was laughing at him.

“They could have found a more convincing animal than a goat.” He snorted. “I could have made a better one with a Shetland pony, a jar of glitter and a bottle of crazy-glue.”

Yes, sir.” A pause. “Your reservation has been made. The show begins at eight o'clock. I will remind you at six-thirty.”

Tony went to refill his coffee mug and then headed out for the balcony overlooking the city. He hadn't thought about that stupid fake unicorn in years. He hadn't even wanted to go to the circus in the first place, but he'd done it as a favor for his mom. He'd taken the kids of some college friend of hers to see the show, so the two of them could have a long lunch. He still wasn't sure which was worse; the audacity of the people in charge at Ringling Brothers thinking anyone could be fooled into thinking the goat was a genuine unicorn, or the six year old he'd been in charge of actually falling for it. He took a drink of coffee, his focus on rooftop of the OsCorp building, where a helicopter was taking off. “Jarvis, what else do I have going on today?”

“You are scheduled for lunch with Doctor Foster to discuss her latest research developments. I suspect she will want to know about the Tesseract and as to why SHIELD just handed it over to Mr. Odinson.”

Tony groaned. “He's not expected, is he?” 

“No, sir. There has been no messages delivered from Asgard recently.” 

“If she doesn't accept 'to prevent legions of aliens from invading' as a perfectly good reason, I'm going to assign Spangles to talk to her from now on.” He took a gulp of coffee. “Glad as I am that Point Break showed up, that guy needs to be knocked down a few pegs.”

“Indeed sir? Shall I find a way to arrange it?” Jarvis's voice had a tinge of humor in it.

“No.” Tony glanced at his watch. “What time am I supposed to be at lunch?”

“One-thirty, at Bouley.” Jarvis replied. “The catch-of-the-day is halibut.”

He sighed and headed back inside. “One thirty... well, guess I better get ready to leave then.” He was already dreading the lunch. It wasn't Doctor Foster that was aggravating, it was her annoying habit of having the exact same reactions to Director Fury that he did. 

 

*

When Ru came back to his cage, rather shaky from the fireballs that had been thrown at him, he found his blankets were gone. He swallowed and crouched down on the floor, already knowing that his night was only just beginning. There would be people coming by to get a better look at him; and even after all these years, he still didn't like it. All he ever wanted to do after a night of freezing fire was to curl up and sleep. It made him so tired to perform – but at least there was a fan blowing cold air directly on him. It helped calm him a little. 

“Could you just try and smile for once?” The handler on the other side of the room rolled his eyes. “You're lucky, you know. Most people would just kill a freak like you.”

Ru blinked and shifted how he was sitting, so he could rest his hands on his knees. 

“Can you smile?” The man grinned at him, holding up a small wrapped package Ru recognized as a candy bar. “Come on, Ice Man, give me a smile and I'll give you a Butterfinger.” 

He looked at the rattling package, his stomach grumbling at the thought of a treat. He turned his gaze to the man and forced the corners of his mouth up. He could remember the princes who used to give him bonbons when he turned their drinks cold. They had laughed in delight and tossed the treats to him like he was a dog; but he hadn't cared. Food was food.

“Now, then – that wasn't so hard, was it?” The handler came over to him. “You just keep that smile on while all the nice people come in and take your picture, and you can have your chocolate.” 

It took all of his strength to keep his expression in place. He should have known better. 

*  
Most of the people were cooing over the tiger cubs. Tony repressed a snort; people watched too many cat videos on the internet. His focus was on the cage on the other side of the room, where only a few people paused, took a picture and then moved on; as if the being on the other side of the bars was nothing more than a background. He stopped directly in front of Shakuru, a sick feeling starting in the pit of his stomach. 

The man was entirely blue; it definitely wasn't some make-up or suit job. He could see the roots of the horns, located just above his temples. They were brown, and they curled backwards, the tips of them almost making contact with the back of his ears. Judging from the length of his torso and legs, there was no way he could stand fully erect in his... cage.

Cage.

The feeling was getting stronger and then Tony's gaze locked with the face on the other side of the bars.

They were full of pain and a sort of despair that made Cap's issues with suddenly being seventy years in the future seem minor. This guy had seen Hell. Fuck that, he was still in it. Locked up in a cage? How long had been living in cages? How old was this guy anyway? And if he wasn't a man in a suit, then what...

_He's an alien, you dumb ass._

He held up his phone in the pretext of taking a picture and then stepped away, already planning on how he was going to get Shekira, Shrek, whatever the his name was out of here. As he crossed to the far side of the room, he turned at the sound of giggling. Two boys were tossing popcorn at the Ice Monster; and he didn't even flinch, not even when they struck him. As the boys were led away by scolding parents, Tony saw the imprisoned alien pick up one of the fallen kernels and furtively shove the morsel into his mouth.

Yeah. He was getting the guy out of here tonight.

*

Ru curled up on his blanket, trying to ignore the clawing, empty feeling in his stomach. The promised candy bar had been denied; not that he was too surprised about that. No dinner of any kind had come either; another expected event. A bottle of water and six pieces of popcorn; that was all he'd had in the past sixteen hours. He could smell the half-eaten food in the trash-bin on the far side of the room and wondered if it'd been left there to torment him, or if the janitorial staff was merely being lazy again. He closed his eyes, focusing on the whirring of the fan above him, the cut of blade through air, driving the heat away the best it could. 

He wasn't fooled. The only reason for the fan was so he wouldn't overheat and die. He was worth far to much alive; and death would be a mercy at this point. 

The rustle of tent flaps in the wind, laughter and the muffled roar of the traffic in the city. Even this late at night, it was still rumbling. The only people still awake in the circus no doubt were him and the security guards. An elephant in the animal tent let out a long blast of sound and then another. Ru snorted; he'd heard it often enough to recognize the sounds of one of those great gray beasts going into labor. A few shouts, and then there were more animals calling out, and he pressed his hands against his ears. It was just like being in the hold of the ship during a storm; all noise and no escape.

_THUNK._

The metallic sound was so out of place that it caused Ru to sit up, blinking. It was repeated, and the memory of men clad in suits of armor, jousting on horseback came to him. Then he noticed something else; the fan was no longer turning at full speed, he looked over his shoulder and saw the blades slowing down, the cool air all but vanishing. Another quick scan of the room showed that the little lights that told him the security cameras were on were dark; and judging from the lights filtering towards him, it was just _his_ tent that was without electric power.

“Hey.” A voice said from behind him and he jumped. Staring at him, from next to the door, were a pair of blazing white eyes.

He backed up against the far side of the cage, his heart pounding. Had he been sold already and this was his new owner? Wait... no... he crouched forward, studying the being standing there. 

It was the Man of Iron.

_I'm dreaming._

In his dream, Iron Man shot the lock off of his cage and opened the door, holding a hand towards him. Ru scuttled across the cage and took the offered hand. Only moments later, they were racing through the sky and he wasn't even afraid of being dropped. He felt his head lolling to the side, and he willed himself to keep in the dream; he knew that if he fell asleep, he would reawaken in his cage, hot and hungry. He felt the wind stop roaring in his ears and then he found himself lying on something wonderfully cold. He stretched out and smiled, and then he heard footsteps.

“Tony?” A man's voice, one he didn't know. Who was Tony anyway? “Shit, Tony, what did you _do_?” 

“You want me to go put him back in that cage, Spangles?” Tony sounded annoyed. “Or was slavery not abolished when you went into the ice?”

“Try nearly a hundred years before it.” Spangles sounded nearer. “What... who?”

“He's an alien of some kind. I thought it was a guy who'd had some shady surgery done at first.” There was a distant sound of a helicopter. 

“Aren't you worried that the circus might...”

“I have better lawyers than the circus.” Tony snorted. “Let's get him inside. I'm going to call Bruce in the morning.”

“I think it is morning in India, Tony.” Spangles replied.

Ru rolled onto his back, stretching out again. He'd been to India before. Several times. “Naan.” 

“Did he just...” That was Tony.

“I think...” Two faces appeared above him, one bearded and the other clean shaven. It was hard to make out any more details, as there seemed to be a bright light somewhere close. “What did you say?”

“Naan.” Ru repeated, grinning. “Good naan.” He didn't even mind when his stomach rumbled. This was a wonderful dream. And so vivid, too.

“You bring him in, Cap.” Tony said. “Jarvis, there any places that deliver this late that serve naan bread?” 

Cap Spangles picked Ru up, and he caught sight of a spire rising above them. “Naan?” He asked again, this time adding a smile, a much bigger one than he'd given the handler who'd promised him a chocolate bar. A moment later, he was deposited on a soft seat in the middle of a room and he looked the man over. He was blond and heavily muscled.

“Yeah. We'll find you some naan.” He had an odd look on his face. “Tony, I think he needs some meat and vegetables too.”

“Well, looks like we're having pizza, there's no Indian place that's open.” Tony reappeared. “It should be here in about twenty-minutes.”

Pizza? Ru had only ever eaten the crusts off of those. When people threw them at him.

*

If Steve Rogers wanted any sort of affirmation on how convinced Tony was of stealing the blue alien from the circus was the right thing to do, it was his utter lack of sarcastic comments as the newest inhabitant of Stark Tower picked off all the toppings of his pizza, one by one to eat them. And the look on his face when Tony gave him a second slice? It was heartbreaking. However, he couldn't eat more than the second one. After he was finished eating, he curled up into a ball on the floor and remained perfectly still.

“I don't suppose you had a plan for what you were going to do after you got him here.” Steve gave the man a bemused look. 

“Of course I have a plan. I'm going to take care of him.” Tony pulled another slice from the box. “And no, I'm not making him a pet. I got him out, I'm going to get him healthy, and then...” 

Steve rubbed his eyes. “And you became an expert on alien anatomy when, exactly?”

“Anyone can see he's been kept close to starving, I have a feeling those darker blue patches on his skin _aren't_ supposed to be there, and the last thing he needs is to be sent back to that cage or finding himself locked up in SHIELD HQ because they think he's a threat!” Tony stood and walked over to where their guest was sitting. “Besides, Pepper's going to take one look at him and go all misty-eyed the same way she does over those commercials asking for funds to help abused animals.”

Steve frowned, he didn't want Tony knowing that those commercials usually made him want to grab at least one tissue. “Tony...”

“Look, he can't go back to where he was. Tomorrow, after a good night's sleep, we'll talk, okay?” He looked down at the blue man. “Sound good to you, Ru?” 

Ru didn't respond, but let out a soft snore.

“That can't be comfortable.” He stood up and walked over to Tony, taking a better look at the marks the man had mentioned. “You said he froze fireballs?” 

He nodded. “Didn't think any of them got close enough to burn him... and even if they did, there's not any organization that can file charges on his behalf.”

“He's been beaten recently...” Steve crouched next to Ru and ran a hand down his back, noting that he whimpered in his sleep when he touched a few places. “Do you even know where Bruce is these days?”

“Peru.” Tony finished his slice of pizza. “It's late, let's put him to bed.”

“Yeah.” Steve looked up. “You're not going to keep him in the loin cloth, are you?”

“Hell no.” He snorted. “Jarvis, can you take an estimate of Ru's size and order a few things?”

“Yes, sir.” The computer's voice replied. “I have also deleted the footage that was recently uploaded onto the internet by someone who caught your most recent flight on camera.”

“Excellent work, Jarv.” Tony grinned. “Did you remember to turn the power back on in that tent at the circus?”

“Yes, sir. I believe the circus owners are under the impression that Mister Shakuru is in the Hudson.” A pause. “You may want to change his name sir.”

Steve picked their guest up. “We'll do that in the morning, Jarvis.”

“Nice to see you're getting used to technology, Cap.” Tony quipped.

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Nice to see you're getting over _your_ need for the spotlight.” 

“Come on, let's put our new friend to bed. Probably has never slept in one in his life.” He frowned. “God, that sounds terrible.”

“Yeah. It does.” He replied as they went to the elevator.


End file.
